As I graduated high-school I knew two things.
1. I did not want to go to the University Of Wyoming, and
2. I was going to the University of Wyoming
These two facts led me to one of the most boring and depressing years of my life. Laramie, Wyoming might as well be the moon, and in a beautiful quote from one insanely drunk kid in the elevator, "There are plenty of hot girls in Laramie. They're just hiding behind all the trees. Too bad there aren't any trees." I began in a way to confident engineering major because I was good at math. After getting an outstanding grade of 17% in Calc 2 and and overall GPA of 0.6 (Yes that is real...that is all "F" and a "D") first semester it was obvious something had to change. For my graduation gift my father had gotten my a Nikon D70. Or in lay mans terms, a very nice camera. As if he could see something I couldn't, I was immediately enthralled and obsessed with photography. So I looked into what major i could get at UW that would encompass photography in some way. But as you can imagine since UW is all about genetically enhancing cows to produce more meat and seeing how loud and high everyone can jack up their F-150, my options were very limited. In fact the only one I could choose was photojournalism.
I started my new semester with new found confidence and drive. That however quickly deteriorated when I found we were only two hours from Denver and could go down to concerts and Denver University all the time. But i managed to pull out decent grades and squeak by. But it was obvious to me that college wasn't the place for me. I will go to college and I will get a degree but just not right now. I realized I have no idea what I want to do with the rest of my life. And why should i know, I'm 19 and have a long time to figure that out. What I did know was this, I grew up in one of the most beautiful places on the planet in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, but that was all of the world I had a seen. The first time I saw the ocean that I can remember was when I was 17. And that was a road trip to California for spring break. I have lived this incredibly sheltered life and I needed to get out.
So I decided to jump off the deep end and go for it. I will be traveling from New Zealand to Dublin over a four to five month period. I've worked ridiculously hard for this sacrificing my entire summer for 60+ hour work weeks and am still working hard to fund this myself. This entire trip will be done as cheaply as possible, that way I can do and see as much as I possibly can. We are talking about hostels and camping and street vendors and sketchy boat rides and the back of pick-up trucks. From New Zealand, into Australia, up to Bali and Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur and Thailand and Singapore, all the way up Vietnam, into China, from there into Europe, and Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Prague, Amsterdam, Vienna, London, and finally Dublin and back to Salt Lake City. I will try to post a summary and story like this from every country I see and experience as well as more pictures than you can imagine. I am most excited to take amazing photos on this journey and can not wait to share them. I leave in January so it is summer in New Zealand. See you then!
